I have been
asked, what was it like to be a
delegate to the United Nations Commission
on the Status of Women? And my answer
has been: fascinating and frustrating.
The fascinating part was to be one
of the fifty-four women and men
who represented the Anglican Consultative
Council for the two weeks in March
during which the UN/CSW had its
annual meeting. The ACC is a Non-Governmental
Organization (NGO) of the UN and
is thereby entitled to register
delegates for attendance at various
meetings. In 2003 I was one of the
two women able to attend every CSW
session, and I came away with a
commitment to make sure that this
year the delegation would be as
representative of the Anglican Communion
as possible.
And representative
it was. There were women from South
Africa, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Uganda,
Liberia, the Philippines, Papua
New Guinea, Aotearoa (New Zealand),
India, Egypt, Canada and the United
States. And on occasion we were
joined by delegates from the Mothers
Union, which is its own NGO. Thirteen
Provinces out of thirty-eight is
not bad for a first try! Such a
diverse delegation was able to address
specific issues facing the CSW,
and it was cause for much joy in
the forming of close relationships
among sisters from differing cultures.
Most of the delegates from outside
the US were designated by their
primates, and their costs were underwritten
through a fund created by the US
delegates.
The two themes addressed
by the CSW this year were “the
role of men and boys in achieving
gender equality” and “women’s
equal participation in conflict
prevention, management and conflict
resolution, and in post-conflict
peace building.” They are
taken directly from the Beijing
Platform of Action adopted in 1995.
A desired product at the end of
the two weeks is statements of “agreed
conclusions” on each theme
as well as resolutions on particular
situations affecting global women
which have arisen during the past
year. More than 900 delegates participated
in 175 side events (UNese for workshops)
ranging from trafficking and sex
tourism to empowering widows to
building peace among children to
religion and patriarchy to HIV/AIDS.
The Anglican Delegation
sponsored several events itself:
the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa,
Women’s Stories of Inclusion
and Exclusion taken from the Abrahamic
Texts and Women as Peace Makers
(held at the Cathedral of St. John
the Divine and covered in a separate
article in this issue). The International
Women’s Day celebration was
especially meaningful this year
as it marked the retirement of Assistant
Secretary-General Angela King, Special
Adviser on Gender Issues and the
Advancement of Women. A sister Anglican,
Ms. King has served at the United
Nations for 40 years and is especially
revered by women throughout the
world. The special emphasis on this
day was Women and HIV/AIDS, spoken
to by Secretary-General Kofi Annan,
who illustrated through statistics
the horrific impact of the pandemic
on women and children and by the
head of the World Health Organization,
who spoke by satellite from Geneva
describing the need to overcome
the stigma and violence in order
to treat married women, the most
rapidly increasing number of those
suffering the infection.
The frustration part of my answer
arises out of the embarrassment
of being a United States citizen
and observing the efforts of the
US Mission to prevent passage of
any statements reaffirming the Beijing
Platform because of its reference
to women’s reproductive rights,
the World Court and the Convention
on the Elimination of all forms
of Discrimination Against Women,
otherwise known as CEDAW. At the
UN all decisions are made by consensus,
which means there are countless
caucus negotiations, but out of
the desire for passage, at the end
of the two weeks the rest of the
world capitulated. The saying heard
on the last day was "we must
have agreement this year for Angela.”
Fifteen days of
plenary sessions, choosing among
all those side events, participating
in caucus negotiations, attending
statement caucuses and meeting times
with the Anglican delegates made
for many busy hours. Sharing meals
and concerns knit us together into
a community which was highlighted
as we learned the refrain for a
Papua New Guinea song. Osa osa te
ha e, osa te ha e (welcome, welcome
to you) were the words we sang to
Jane Williams as she arrived at
the Episcopal Church Center for
the special dinner party planned
for her by Phoebe Griswold. Tao
sister Jane, simba vi e (we are
waiting for you sister Jane) went
the verse. In some way those words
also captured our feelings for one
another at the conclusion of our
days together.
- Marge Christi
was a member of the ACC Delegation
to the 48th CSW and lives in the
Diocese of Newark.
